Climate CHANGE :

The average weather of a region or place measured for all seasons over a number of years. Climate
change refers to significant, long-term changes in the global climate.
CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE :

This adds enormous amounts of greenhouse gases to those naturally Humans are increasingly
influencing the climate and the earth's occurring in the atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse
effect and global warming.

Greenhouse gases

Some gases in the Earth's atmosphere act a bit like the glass in a greenhouse, trapping the sun's heat
and stopping it from leaking back into space.

Many of these gases occur naturally, but human activity is increasing the concentrations of some of them
in the atmosphere, in particular:

 carbon dioxide (CO2)

 methane
 nitrous oxide
 fluorinated gases

CO2 is the greenhouse gas most commonly produced by human activities and it is responsible for 64%
of man-made global warming. Its concentration in the atmosphere is currently 40% higher than it was
when industrialisation began.

Other greenhouse gases are emitted in smaller quantities, but they trap heat far more effectively than
CO2, and in some cases are thousands of times stronger. Methane is responsible for 17% of man-made
global warming, nitrous oxide for 6%.

Causes for rising emissions

 Burning coal, oil and gas produces carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
 Cutting down forests (deforestation). Trees help to regulate the climate by absorbing CO2 from the
atmosphere. So when they are cut down, that beneficial effect is lost and the carbon stored in the trees is
released into the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect.
 Increasing livestock farming. Cows and sheep produce large amounts of methane when they digest their
food.
 Fertilisers containing nitrogen produce nitrous oxide emissions.
 Fluorinated gases produce a very strong warming effect, up to 23 000 times greater than CO 2. Thankfully these
are released in smaller quantities and are being phased down by EU regulation.

Global warming
TThe current global average temperature is 0.85ºC higher than it was in the late 19th century. Each of
the past three decades has been warmer than any preceding decade since records began in 1850.

The world's leading climate scientists think human activities are almost certainly the main cause of the
warming observed since the middle of the 20th century.

An increase of 2°C compared to the temperature in pre-industrial times is seen by scientists as the
threshold beyond which there is a much higher risk that dangerous and possibly catastrophic changes in
the global environment will occur. For this reason, the international community has recognised the need
to keep warming below 2°C.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE:

The effects of anthropogenic – human-caused – climate change range from more frequent and severe droughts to snowstorms
and extreme winter weather in temperate regions as a result of warming Arctic weather fronts.
It's not only humans that are affected. Warming ocean temperatures are increasing the frequency of coral reef bleaching;
warmer, drier weather means that forests in some regions are no longer recovering from wildfires and wildlife habitats around the
world are becoming less hospitable to animals.
Climate change is having economic and socio-political effects, too. Food security is already being impacted in a number of
African countries and researchers are studying suggestive links between climate change and an increased likelihood of military
conflict.
We're already seeing the first climate refugees as people are displaced by rising sea levels, melting Arctic permafrost and other
extreme weather.
The average weather of a region or place measured for all seasons over a number of years is known as climate.

[Date] Psychology

Assignment#02
Submitted by:
NASEEBA KHATOON